In the Land of Shifting Sands
by SilverStar56
Summary: In one world, a god saw no need to interfere with the events that eventually led to the demise of Pharaoh Atem. In another world, the stakes have been raised and new chips have been played. Thus, this god saw fit to even the playing field. An OC centric story.
1. Chapter 1

**So if you have read, I have started writing again after stopping for three years due to high school application. I am writing this story and another story, Under the Moonlight in conjuction so that I don't lose my motivation for either story.**

 **Also, I was interested in writing in this series because if you have read my other stories, you probably had an inkling I like really old anime that was essentially my childhood. This also applies to Under the Moonlight which is a digimon fic that I am writing in conjunction with this story and I am shamelessly advertising it so if you want to go check it out.**

 **I got inspired to write this fic because of the announcement of Yu-Gi-Oh The Dark Side of the Dimensions and ended up doing a marathon and watched the whole original series. Again. For the 10th time again. It also helps that I still keep up with the latest Yu-Gi-Oh animes. I really love this series and I think that they are doing a 20th anniversary to celebrate is a great thing and in celebration to that, this story was born.**

 **An another note, I wrote this story's outline (which is 10 pages long, single spaced) in an inspirational stint after reading** _Merry Sioux's_ _Rewind_ **and** _Play_ _ **.**_ **So you will notice later on in this story that there will be similar scenes and perhaps similar ideas and I have asked for permission from the author herself and I credit those scenes and ideas back to her. If you have not read her story, go read it. They are amazing.**

 **So in other news, lets get to the story shall we?**

 **I also do not own the picture that was used to put on this story**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything at all except my own OC's**

* * *

Aziza was a normal villager.

She went about her day like any other villager, worshipping Ra and the Pharaoh for blessing the land with their gifts and finishing her duties before retiring at night. Then that process would repeat the next morning.

So that was why she was surprised to find someone to disrupt that routinely ritual.

It started normally with her waking up early in the morning, praying to Lord Ra and starting her duties of delivering water to the other villagers in her small village.

It was during one of those trips that she came upon an unconscious being at the edge of the village.

Aziza nearly dropped her vase of water in shock at the sight before she ran towards the young child.

The being was a child, a girl no older than 3 summers old with black hair with odd crimson lining the tips of her strands. She had never seen such an absurd coloring in anyone's hair before and Aziza had to take a moment to touch the child's hair to see if any blood came off but that was was of no use, the girl really had crimson on her hair.

The child wore tattered clothing and was had odds bruises forming along the line of her skin and had no other possessions on her body and this made Aziza frown with the dilemma she was presented.

The young woman had to wonder what she was to do with this young child. She had not seen this young child in the village before and she doubted anyone else in her hometown would know who this mysterious visitor. And the child was injured and had probably crossed the dessert at night to reach this village.

However, Aziza was wary of the child's origin's, for it was strange to see a child this young in such a state.

But before she could contemplate anything else, Aziza noticed the sun had started to rise again and that she still had her duties to attend to.

So she quickly brought the child to home and let her rest there before continuing her duties before answering any lingering questions she had.

It was not like the child would wake up anytime soon.

…

After delivering the water to everyone in her village, Aziza had sought out the Village Chief. For he was the oldest, wisest and kindest man in the whole village and if it was anyone who would have knowledge in what to do in this situation, it would be him. He was also the village's healer, so he would be able to treat the wounds the young one carried.

But more than that, the Village Chief was the man who had raised her after the passing of her parents, so she trusted him above all else to know how to handle the situation.

After understanding the situation, the Village Chief nodded, his face grave before following Aziza back to her abode. Once there, they noticed that the young girl had not yet awaken as she lied on the bed with soft slow breaths.

The Village Chief looked over her body for any illnesses or wounds and found none. Only the bruises lining her skin were their and they would heal given time. After giving Aziza his diagnosis, the child groaned and shifted.

The two adults held their breaths as the child's slowly lifted her eyelids and once they saw what her eyes looked like they gasped.

For the child's eyes were of the color of the sun, a mixture of amber and orange that flickered and shifted with every breath she took. Looking into the child's eyes seem to be like looking into the judging eyes of Ra.

The adults snapped out of their stupor as they saw the child screw her eyes shut and groan again. The Village chief first approached the child with a greeting.

The child opened her eyes as her brows furrowed and she looked down. She slowly sat up on the bed and rubbed her head and slowly lifted her face up. She held a wary expression as she looked at the two and they did not blame her for that. She woke up in a unfamiliar house with two strangers, it was not unusual for her to react in such a manner.

The Village Chief first introduced himself to the young girl and then explained to her how she got there and that Aziza had found the child. He went on to say that it was lucky that the girl had no wounds and no illnesses despite spending the night out in the cold dessert night. The child went along with his words and nodded slowly as she followed the conversation.

Then the Village Chief asked for the child's name and how she got herself into such a situation. The child stood still and she held her breath. Her eyebrows furrowed and her hands clenched the sheets underneath her as she her mouth opened a little but no answer came out.

Finally she answered, her voice young and soft and shaky. But her answer was:

"I don't know. Who am I?"

The Village Chief and Aziza were stumped. They could not believe what had just come out of the young child's mouth and asked again but the child just shook her head and her shoulders dropped.

The Village Chief reasoned that due to whatever ordeal the child went through that she had trauma and thus was unable to recall anything in her past. This put them into a problem, for what are they to do with the child?

The child did not remember anyone and she was alone when she was found at the edge of the village, so it was safe to assume that she had no other relatives. The child was alone and had no where else to go.

The Village chief felt kinship with the child. She was alone and her situation reminded him of Aziza once upon a time ago, when she had just lost her parents.

The same unfocused, wavering lost look in the child's eyes reminded him of the girl who he thought of as a daughter.

So with a great deep breathe and a deep resolve, he asked if the child would like to come with him to his home.

The child jolted in her place and looked at him with wide eyes, almost in disbelief. However, with Aziza an understanding occurred and she added that she could come visit her place anytime she wanted to as well. She understood her father figure saw her in the child's eyes, and to be frank she saw herself in the girl.

Of when she did not know where to go when she had lost her parents to illness.

So she understood the Village Chief's intentions and decided to encourage the child to go with the chief.

The child was silent, her head bowed and her mouth was pressed into a thin line. Slowly, she looked up and looked into the Village Chief's eyes and he had to hold himself back from holding his breath as those same clear eyes looked at him.

Hesitantly, the girl nodded her head. The Village Chief- Akil felt his lips twitch into a soft smile before he extended a hand to the child. The girl reached out and stopped before clasping her hand in his.

…

The child was given a new name.

For instead of chaining the child to an unknown past, it was better to look to the future.

So Akil had named the child Eshe, for she now had a new life ahead of her instead of the mysterious past behind her.

At first, the villagers were suspicious of the child. For a young one to appear with no background? That was not of the norm. So they kept a wary eye on the child constantly once they learned of her existence. Some had tried to inflict harm upon the girl, but once they caught sight of her eyes, they backed away from that thought.

The other village children shied away from the young girl and even the adults tried to avoid her. For once they looked into her eyes, they would not dare to inflict hurt to the child. It was as if just by looking into her eyes, she would judge you of your soul.

It was much too similar to how they would picture the Gods. So they stayed away from her as much as they could.

Eshe on the other hand was very awkward.

In the beginning, she would stumble through everything she did. It was not as though she was a clumsy child, it was the fact she had no knowledge of anything after her awakening.

Every new thing and culture she learned was fresh, and Akil likened that fact to that of a newborn child.

She was an innocent, if not ignorant child. But she gave the best effort in learning everything she could and she was grateful towards Akil and Aziza who had found her. So she tried to help them i everything they did and learned everything they knew of.

From Akil, she learned basic medicine and how to treat others. He taught her how to identify basic herbs and poisonous beings such as scorpions. Akil taught her those skills in case of an emergency if she needed to treat someone else or even her self if it was necessary. It was something he thought the young child should have given the original state the child was found in.

From Aziza, she learned how to sew and to make clothes. However, Eshe was still a young child and therefore had not learned good hand coordination yet, so often she pricked herself with the needle. Often times, Aziza would take amusement at the cute disgruntled expression Eshe's face took on. however, Aziza was kind enough to let Eshe practice on dark colored cloth, so as to not depress the young child from her simple mistakes.

And so time passed and Eshe spent the time peacefully with Akil and Aziza. Learning the tricks to their trade and often avoiding the rest of the villagers. For she knew her eyes unnerved the rest of the people. So to rest their fears, often would she not look people in the eye and avoid the company of anyone else except Aziza and Akil.

Aziza and Akil were worried with the fact that Eshe was not making friends with anyone near her age, but she seemed to be at peace and they thought that eventually the other children would warm up to the girl, so they decided to leave the issue alone for the time being.

And thus a year passed and Eshe was 4 years old when the next incident occurred.

…

It was an attack.

The village was not unlike other villages, that sometimes bandits and thieves would come and wreck destruction and pillage them of their belongings.

The odd thing was that no bandit had come to the village for over a year, just around the time that Eshe was found. So the villagers had become complacent. And that costed them.

They were unprepared of the wave of bandits that came rushing into the village and many tried to hide away and run back into their homes. The women, children and elderly were quickly hidden away and the men tried to fight back against the bandits.

However, it was a losing battle, for the numbers of the bandits were far to many, and slowly the men were beaten down and forced to lie down on their back.

It was with great horror that the bandits started to drag the women and children out in the open. Wails filled the air as children were slowly being separated from their mothers and put into a cage.

The same was with Eshe as she was dragged over and like any other child she fought for her freedom and struggled in the grasps of her captor.

The situation magnanimously got worse when they caught sight of her eyes. Her captor laughed and yelled to his accomplices that they caught a treasure and said she would cost a lot in the market.

Aziza would not allow that to happen. Not to the child that looked up to her with wonder and for protection. So ignoring the cries of her fellow villagers, she broke free of one of the bandits and tried to get Eshe away from that horrid man.

However, she was quickly beaten down and the bandit holding Eshe captive sneered at her attempt and tried to make an example out of her. Slowly, a disgusting grin create over his face as he raised his sword in anticipation.

The scene looked as if it was in slow motion in the eyes of Akil and Eshe to their horror. The sword was brought down and the widening fearful eyes of Aziza as she tried to raise her arms to shield her was like a tragic play.

Something within Eshe snapped just as the sword was about to cut into Aziza's flesh.

A bright flash was emitted and that blinded everyone in the vicinity. Instead of the sword meeting Aziza, it instead hit a ball of hair that had wings and exploded. The bandit was flung backwards due to the explosion and Aziza took that opportunity to grab Eshe and get away from the bandit.

However, it did not end there.

Another puffball that was bigger and had no wings let out a small chirpy war cry as it zipped towards the rest of the bandits and multiplied. Soon the area was filled with numerous puffballs that exploded upon contact with the bandits.

Screams and curses rang through the air as explosions sang. Suddenly it was silent, sans for the groans that came from the injured felons.

Akil and Aziza could not believe their eyes. Eshe had just summoned some thing that turned the disastrous situation around. The girl in question was deadly silent, except for hugging the same puffball with wings that had protected Aziza from harm.

Once the explosions had ended, the bigger puffball floated back to Eshe and chirped happily as it nuzzled into her cheek. It cooed as she brought a hand up to scratch it to the being's satisfaction.

Akil and Aziza sighed in relief at the end of the crisis. However, it was not over yet. A bandit, that had manage to hide away from the explosions using one of its accomplices as a meat shield stood up.

He face was screwed up into a face of rage. His temples taut and teeth grit, he yelled as he aimed his sword at Eshe and brought it down.

Eshe shut her eyes and hid herself in the winged puffballs fur as the bigger puffball stretched his arms out as if to protect her, an expression of determination upon its face.

However, he stopped short of the puffball. Almost as if he was frozen in place. The expression of rage on the bandit did not fade, however it was now tempered with fearful confusion.

Slowly, Akil and Aziza and the rest of the villagers could hear it. The sound of stamping hooves coming nearer to their village.

And soon they saw, soldiers of the Pharaoh led by one of his high priests. Tired and injured they may be, the villagers kneeled and bowed their heads, Akil urging the clueless Eshe to follow for he understood the consequences of not showing respect to one of the Pharaoh's high priests.

And while Eshe, confused as she was followed suit, her little summons did not follow and instead looked upon the newcomers with determination to protect his summoner and wariness.

As soon as the soldiers arrived, they arrested the bandits and the frozen bandit was taken into custody. Manu looked upon the scene he arrived to and his gaze stopped on young Eshe and her little summons. His Millennium Ring had reacted to the young child, did that mean…

His eyes widened at his realization and his subordinates murmured in confusion, why was a Ka here?

There was a stillness in the air before the high priest ordered his soldiers to treat the wounded and free the women and children. He also ordered to gently bring the Village Chief to him.

The soldiers saluted him and quickly bustled into activity, gathering the wounded and freeing the caught women and children. There was much joyous exclamations and that filled the high priest with warmth. Then when a women murmured something to the child and slowly sat up, Manu nearly gasped.

The child held such a unique coloring in her eyes. A bright mixture of amber and orange that flickered. It reminded him stunningly to the setting sun. He idly noted that the young girl had such odd coloring in her hair. The only people that has had such odd coloring that he would know of would be the prince.

He broke out of his stupor when someone was brought to him.

An elderly man was brought to him, he held a wisdom in his eyes not unlike another advisor he knew back at the palace. His lips almost twitched into a small smile at the thought.

Akil went to kneel but was stopped by Manu and brought to his full height. Still Akil bowed to the priest.

"Thank you Lord Priest, you have saved our village from a terrible fate."

Manu shook his head, "It is my duty to protect the people. I only did what was entitled of me."

Aki smiled softly, "Even so, I must still thank you, for you have prevented a tragedy."

"But it seems that I did not need to do much." Manu turned his gaze to the young girl.

She was being held by a woman and still held onto a small summon. It was similar to the other summon in that it was a puffball but it was smaller and had a small pair of white wings. The other Ka, while not looking at him with wariness anymore was hovering over the girl warily.

"Who is that girl?" Manu asked.

Akil held his breathe before he sighed. "That is Eshe, she is just four summers old."

"She has such stunning eyes." Many murmured.

Akil had a proud smile on his lips, "Indeed, it is a pity that many are unable to see that but instead fear it."

Manu hummed in agreement, he could see how if fixated upon someone, that gaze could intimidate.

"Has she ever been able to summon things like that before?"

"No Lord Priest, not since she was found at the edge of the village a year ago."

Manu raised an eyebrow, "Found?"

Akil nodded, "Yes my foster daughter Aziza, the one who is holding Eshe, found her at the edge of the village a year ago unconscious. When she woke up, she had no memory of where she came from or who she was. She did not even remember her name."

Manu's expression saddened, "Such a burden on a young child."

Akil nodded solemnly, "Yes, but we have given her a new name to look forward to the future instead."

Manu approved of this man, "You are very wise."

Akil shook his head, "I am only wise because I have experienced life long enough Lord Priest. However, may I ask why you have come to our village?"

Manu blinked, "Why do you ask that?"

"It is unusual for one of your standing to come to a village such as ours. Especially when we are not particularly close to the capital."

Mahu gazed at the man and Akil wondered if he had overstepped his boundaries by questioning the actions of a high priest before Mahu answered him.

"One of my fellow High Priests received a prophecy that there would be someone of great potential in this village. I was tasked by the Pharaoh to come examine this great potential."

Akil's eyes widened and his jaw dropped in shock. "The Pharaoh!"

Mahu nodded, "If that person was truly of great potential, I was to invite that person back to the palace to serve the Pharaoh."

Then Manu turned his gaze upon Eshe and his eyes softened. "Atlhough I confess I did not expect a child this young."

Mahu turned back to Akil, "However, this only shows how much potential that young one holds. Only four summers old and she is able to summon two Ka without any help.

"If given the proper guidance, she would be able to blossom into a powerful mage and one of the best summoners of our court." Manu announced and as the current best mage of the Pharaoh's court, that statement held an enormous weight.

Akil was silent as he looked upon Eshe as she was being fussed over Aziza. She still had not let go of the fur ball and laughed a little as the little being tickled her.

"Village Chief," Akil turned back to the high priest. "Will you let her come with me so that we may nurture that potential?"

Akil fell silent at that proposition. He understood that serving the Pharaoh was a great honor and the fact that Eshe was given this opportunity was unheard of. He also knew that Eshe would have a much better life if she lived in the palace as well.

However, he was fond of the little girl. The same little girl who would toddle behind him and gaze at everything with wide eyed wonder. He did not want to let go of her now.

And yet, he wanted what was best for the girl.

Manu waited as the Village chief weighed his thoughts and finally he answered. " I will let her go, for that would be best for her. However, she must choose if she wishes to go with you or not."

Manu nodded, it was a fair point that if the child herself did not want to go, it would be pointless.

So Akil brought the high priest closer to Aziza and Eshe, the two were still talking to one another in soft tones before the bigger puffball stiffened and positioned himself in front of the high priest.

Manu's guards raised their weapons but he raised a hand and they back down. She suddenly looked up and as he was fixated by those orange amber orbs he almost felt as though he ws being judged.

Aziza was flustered and tried to kneel when Manu stopped her, "You do not need to kneel down before me, I just wish to talk to this young one."

The woman was stunned before her attention was brought back to her father figure as he tried to explain what was happening to her when Manu turned his attention to the young girl.

Eshe tried to hide her face underneath the other Ka she was holding but it only made her look like a young child holding their stuffed toy. It was an adorable sight, if not for the fact that her bigger Ka bristled dangerously in font of him protectively.

Manu held his hands up, drawing her eyes away from the Ring hanging around his neck, "I do not bring any danger with me."

The girl tilted her head and gazed at him, looking for something in his eyes before she lifted her head and her bigger Ka stopped bristling. He held a hand up to pat the bigger Ka and it blinked before it leaned into his touch and cooed in satisfaction.

"He is a cute summon isn't he?" Manu asked.

Eshe nodded before her hold on her other Ka relaxed a little and the Ka turned in the child's embrace to look at him. He noted that the Ka in the young child's embrace was the same as the one cuddling into his touch, just smaller and it had wings instead. He also noted that the one in the child's embrace was more light orientated that the one he was in contact with, which was dark oriented.

"How did you call him here?" He asked the child lightly. The child tilted her head cutely and furrowed her brows before she answered.

"I don't know. All I know was that big sister Aziza was about to be hurt by that bad man so I asked for help and they said yes."

The child pouted as if confused and Manu chuckled.

"What you just did was extremely hard for someone your age." Manu commented offhandedly.

Eshe's mouth opened slightly as an expression of dread came over her face. "Was I not supposed to do that?"

Manu blinked and quickly tried to reassure the child, "No! no… you did what you had to do. Its just that you must be very talented to do something some adults have difficulty doing."

Eshe just blinked at him.

Manu chuckled and patted her head. "You know, do you want to learn how to do this?"

Eshe tilted her head again, "This?"

"Summoning." He pointed at the Ka she was holding and the one he was holding, "I can teach you how to do this. But you will have to come with me to the palace if you want to learn." Manu explained.

A look of understanding crossed the girl's face as she ducked her head back into her Ka's fur before she answered.

"Does that mean I have to leave big sister Aziza and grandpa Akil?"

Mahu nodded solemnly.

Eshe started to tremble, "Can I come visit them?"

Mahu shook his head, "In order for you to learn this art, you need to come to the palace and it is very hard to come back to this village once you go there since it is in the capital of Khemet. It is much to far to come back to visit."

He tried to explain gently but he could see that the girl was on the verge of rejecting his proposition with how much she was trembling.

Eshe was about to decline when a voice cut in their conversation.

"Eshe, why don't you go? You would learn a lot if you did."

Aziza, after getting an explanation from Akil understood what was happening. That she would have to let go of this child that she has grown close to over the year and perhaps may never see the child again.

But living in the castle would be better than living in this village, where the villagers feared he child. Where no child would befriend her. At least in the palace perhaps someone will offer her friendship.

And she wanted what was best for the little girl.

Eshe snapped her head in the older woman's direction in disbelief and betrayal when Aziza pressed a finger gently to her lip.

"Both me and grandpa Akil care for you very much Eshe, and that's why we want you to go. You would learn a lot and live a better life than if you stayed here."

Aziza gently brought the girl into an embrace as she ran her fingers through the child's unique hair.

"You are not happy here Eshe. You might be content but you are not happy and if staying here means you will be unhappy than grandpa Akil and I would rather you leave and try to find happiness than stay here."

Aziza was rubbed Eshe's back in a comforting circle. "We want what is best for you, and we had a feeling after we found you a year ago that perhaps you had something you need to do. You have no purpose in life if you stay here. Eshe, go and live and find something you will love to do."

Aziza murmured gently to the child and slowly and gently let her go. By the end of her short speech, Eshe had stopped trembling. The amber eyed girl had a quiet, almost sullen look as she looked down before she turned her to the high priest who was waiting patiently.

Manu looked at the scene with some sadness and he looked at the Village Chief. The chief held an expression that said that if he did not take care of her there would be consequences, priest or not.

Manu had to approve of that concern and nodded with resolve that he would take care if the child.

So he asked again and offered a hand to the child.

"Would you like to come with me?"

Eshe turned to her guardians, smiling at her contentedly and she looked towards her summons who were cooing at her encouragingly. She then turned to the high priest shyly before nodding hesitantly and reached out to grab the hand that was offered to her.

She grasped it and held it firmly.

* * *

 **And that is the end of the prologue. The next chapter will feature Eshe going to the Capital and meeting the Pharaoh. Please take note that Eshe is just 4 years old and is the same age as Atem and Bakura, so the current Pharaoh is Atem's dad.**

 **And while Eshe seems Mary Sueish, beware, while she may be able to Summon her Ka's, she will have problem summoning other Ka's… (hint hint!). Also, recognize what her Ka monsters are? I specifically choose those monsters for a reason that will be clear in the future.**

 **But I wonder who Eshe really is… have fun figuring that out. I did not make her out of a whim and there is a reason why she is an amnesiac and made her an oc because something has changed in this world and her existence became necessary as my summary puts it. I'm also purposely not writing in first person so as to not give Eshe's thoughts away and other things that would give away the plot but since she is a amnesiac and basically only has a year worth of memories, she does not have much personality yet. So there isn't really much to show yet. She just seems really quiet and shy for now but she will have her insecurities and a ton of weaknesses unlike my current OC's that I have. Hehehe, I look forward to developing her…**

 **Also, if you are unsure of how Eshe looks like, imagine that she has straight spiky black hair that ends at her shoulders. The tips of her hair are colored crimson. Her eyes are of similar color to that of Katekyo Hitman Reborn's Sawada Tsunayoshi when he is in Hyper Dying will mode. It is an orange amber color. I am not making her a mary sue she will have a ton of faults and some will be physical faults as well, but when I designed her, I wanted something to stand out and in anime, it is usually the eyes and the hair and thus voila. Also, it is not just for standing out, the color of her eyes is a mark that will be explained in the future.**

 **You will also often have characters comment on her eyes, because really amber eyes is not normal and it is a very unusual shade of color for a person to have. I wanted to emphasize that Eshe might be a little off and the best way would be her eyes. Her hair will get some notice but we have Atem and Bakura and Marik and other people who have ridiculous hair color that it doesn't really stand out as much.**

 **Speaking of OC's, Akil and Aziza will not be re-appearing for quiet a while. There will be references sometimes but they will not be getting appearances for quiet some time. On the other hand, Manu will be getting a ton of screen time since he basically signed up to be Eshe's guardian. Also, here are the meaning of the names so far:**

 **Eshe - Life (For a new life, this will have deep meaning later on)**

 **Aziza - Precious (She was a precious person to Eshe)**

 **Akil - Knowledgeable (He is knowledgeable and has wisdom so I though the name would be appropriate. Also, there is a female version of the name called Akila)**

 **Manu - Second born ( He was the second character I created for this story, thus the name. He is also the current best magician in the Pharaoh's court and the current bearer of the Millennium Ring. Mahad, at this time, is just an adorable kid.)**

 **Also, I am not a great writer, so if you spot mistakes can yo tell them to me? and if you want to beta this story, shoot me a PM, i'm glad to get any help I can get.**

 **Also shoot me constructive criticism, or just review for fun. I'm happy to hear from you readers :)**

 **So until next time.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, this is the second chapter of 'In the Land of the Shifting Sands' and I am so proud to publish this! I don't know but I am trying to not lose my motivation by writing the story out. Since I spent a good 3 days nonstop writing the outline, I bet my freaking laptop that I will not drop this story as much as possible.**

 **The only reason this came out so quickly was because when I had posted chapter 1, I had already completed this chapter. However, chapter 3 is in progress (it is 3 pages in already) and will take a while. Appreciate the amount of time it takes to write, these two chapters alone took several hours to finish and they are not betaed either so the next chapter will take a while and I apologize for that.**

 **Also, from this chapter onwards, the point of view will be from Eshe unless it switches with the … signs. I won't tell you who's POV's it is, but it will be very obvious so don't worry about that too much.**

 **I also do not own the picture cover used for this story**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything but my OC's and credit to some scenes to Merry Sioux in later chapters.**

* * *

Eshe clung onto Manu's cloak as she buried her face into his back. The ride back to the capital was long and arduous and she was not used to riding on horseback so her back was starting to hurt.

But what hurt more was not the physical aches but the emotional ones.

After saying her goodbyes to big sister Aziza and grandpa Akil, an emptiness filled her heart. The young child knew that she had no other friends or acquaintances in the village, due to the fact that she had no background and her unusual eye coloring. Many of the adults and children avoided her and while that had hurt at first, the pain had been numbed by the kindness of the two.

However, the moment the village was no longer in sight, that pain came back in throes and she felt the urge to cry but held back her tears. She did not want to worry her new caretaker.

She also recalled back her two summons back to where they came from.

As much as she wanted them to be near her at the current moment and although Manu said it was not necessary to recall them, she could feel the wariness of his guards and the rest of the soldiers. So after reassuring the two that she would be fine, she told them to go back and she would call them when she needed to.

So with great reluctance the two summons left and then she was left alone in this situation.

She clenched at the cloak tighter and her tears welled up in her eyes but she did not let them fall. She would not let them fall. For if she cried so early on in her new journey, she would be so very weak.

However, she nearly jolted out of her position when she felt comfortable rubbing motions running along her back. She blinked and turned to her new guardian.

Manu had a unusual expression that Eshe could not place and his movements were a little awkward and she could not help but giggle.

He was just too awkward and it seemed from how stilted his movements were that perhaps he had no experience in how to handle young insecure girls.

It was adorable and that thought somewhat soothe the ache inside of her.

So it was with that warmth that the day's activities finally caught up to the young child and slowly and surely, she was lulled to sleep. The rhythmic thumping of the horse hooves and her new caretakers rubbing her back being her lullaby.

…

The next time Eshe woke up, it was to someone nudging her awake.

"We are here, little one." The voice, Manu, murmured comfortingly and Eshe groaned being awoken from her peaceful dreams to the strong rays of the sun.

Eshe had to rub her eyes to rid of the blur in her vision. However, once she blinked severe times and took a look at the view, her eyes widened in awe.

For in front of her lay the vision of the capital of Khemet, Cairo.

It was nothing like the small village that she lived in before, Cairo was a wonder with its beauty and with the number of people in it. They were bustling with activity and there was an energy to them that she never saw in her sleepy village.

And the most beautiful part of Cairo would be the palace. It stood there in its proud glory and even from a distance Eshe could not help but be in awe of the sheer majesty of the building.

Manu and the soldiers chuckled at the reaction of the young child. It was much more refreshing than home she was acting before, all sullen and lost. This wide eyed wonder painting her expression was much more fitting to a child her age.

They slowly trotted back to palace, Eshe turning and twisting her head to get a look at everything she saw. People tried to bow down to High Priest as he was passing by but he ushered them not to do so and continue on with their day.

Perhaps it was a good thing that Eshe was so preoccupied with the new sights, for she would have withdrawn back into her sullen mood if she had payed attention to what was occurring in her surroundings. However, Manu did not want to go faster, he wanted to give his new charge some time to assimilate her new surroundings and lighten her mood.

It was a much better change compared to what she was like before.

So he went back to the palace slowly and before they knew it, they were in front of the Palace gates and soon they were ushered in and the gates began to close.

Eshe pouted when she could no longer see the city anymore but her awe did not recede when she took a look at her new surroundings.

The palace was well kept and clean. It was also very large, much larger than her village and the girl thought it was bigger than at least half the city. It was such a surreal sight to see a place get this much space to the young child.

Manu then noticed that someone has been waiting for him patiently and quickly dismounted from his stead while he nudged Eshe out of her awe and helped her get off the animal. It was only after the amber eyed child touch the ground did she notice the new presence and hid behind Manu's legs and clutched his cloak.

The rest of the group was ushered towards the stables were the horses were left to rest from the long journey while the soldiers were given refreshments to relieve their fatigue. The left Manu and Eshe with their guest at the entrance of the gate.

"Merket! Did you foresee us coming back today?" Manu greeted her. It was then Eshe noticed that around her neck was a necklace with the same eye design of the Ring hanging around her guardian's neck and she wondered if that symbol held any meaning.

"Yes I did and I wanted to greet your new student." Nailah nodded as her gaze moved from her fellow High Priest to the child before her.

When Eshe noticed that she caught the women's attention, she jerked away to hide, before peeking out from behind Manu's leg. Nailah decided that made quite the adorable sight.

She kneeled down to the child's height and reached out to the child assuringly, "Hello child, my name is Nailah. Welcome to the palace."

She peeked her head out more as she blinked before she hesitantly accepted the hand. "Thank you very much. My name is Eshe."

Once Merket caught sight of the young girl's eyes, she felt her breath leave her. Manu wondered if this was how everyone who met the child reacted. He could not blame them though, for he had reacted in the same manner as Nailah is right now.

After introducing herself in soft tones, the child quickly hid herself in the cloak of her guardian and that served to amuse the two adults. Nails stood up before addressing Manu.

"She is so young…" Nailah murmured under her breath.

Manu raised a brow, "You could not tell in your vision?"

The woman shook her head, "I could only tell that the person who could summon a Ka was a youth, not a young child barely five summers old."

Nailah let out a soft breath, "She has such stunning eyes and she has such unique hair coloring. I believe that only the prince has similar coloring as this child. The Pharaoh will be amazed."

Manu could only nod, so he was not the only one who noticed the similarities.

They spoke in soft tones so as to not let Eshe overhear their conversation. But the child did not hear the conversation as she was still hiding away from the lady and was much more interested looking around her new environment.

"Does the Pharaoh wish to see our newest pupil?" Manu question.

Nailah nodded. "He has requested that you bring the young one as soon as you have arrived. I believe the others have gathered and now are waiting for your presences."

Manu nodded sharply before his eyes softened and he nudged his new ward. Eshe nearly jumped before she looked up at Manu with wide eyes. Manu chuckled and ruffled her hair before addressing her.

"We are going to meet an important person. Stay close to me and follow my lead okay?" He murmured to the child and she nodded and clutched at his cloak.

Nailah wanted to coo at the sight. The awkward Manu, who could not deal with any child except his prodigious son, was gently handling a four summer old girl. It was too cute for words.

Slowly they made their way to the throne room and Eshe kept close to Manu and constantly looked down. Not daring to look up and accidentally insulting this important person.

Their footsteps stopped at an enormous door Eshe wondered why they were waiting in front of this large door for when suddenly it creaked open. It made a large noise and she heard someone's voice reverberate and command them to come in.

And so this was Eshe's first time stepping into the Throne room.

…

Pharaoh Aknamkanon waited for one of his most trusted to return to stand before him, lead by Nailah. HIs mission was to bring back the person who Nailah had witnessed in a prophecy to be of great potential. He was to bring the youth to his court, where they will judge them before to see if they are of good heart and willing to learn and serve.

It seemed that he had succeeded by his expression and body language. However, he could not clearly see the youth that was supposed to be brought back.

However, he could see a small body hiding behind his best magician. Perhaps the youth was nervous to stand before him. Then again, He supposed any normal citizen would be fearful to stand before him. But he must continue on with the court.

He nodded towards Manu. "You have returned, Manu."

Manu bowed in respect, "Yes my Pharaoh."

"And were you successful?"

Manu raised his head and nodded. "Yes, I had witnessed the youth of great potential in the village far west to our capital. I was amazed by what I had witnessed and I am glad to bring her to you my Pharaoh."

Her? So the youth was a young female. That was interesting, since there were very few females that had the affinity for magic. One was his High Priest Nailah, the second was her daughter Isis and third would be the young toddler, almost three summers old who showed signs of having strong magic in her blood.

This youth would make the total number of female magicians total to four.

Aknadin, his brother, scowled. "Well then? Where is this promising youth?"

The Pharaoh nodded. He wondered why he could not see her. Perhaps she was too shy?

Manu winced, "My Pharaoh, while I do say that this person is of great potential, she is also… very young."

He was hesitating, it was unusual to see his most confident mage act in such a manner. How young could this youth be?

Asim, his scale bearer frowned before he exclaimed, "Enough of this farce Manu! It is unlike you to be like this. Hurry and show the youth to the Pharaoh!"

Manu grimaced before he turned slightly and nudged the the small figure behind him and slowly the figure emerged and his court gasped.

He would have reacted the same way.

The youth was a child! No older than five summers old and had such odd hair colorings, it faintly reminded him of his own son and he could not help it that his breath stilled.

This was the promising youth?!

Aknadin's scowl deepened, "Are you jesting Manu! This cannot be the youth that Nailah saw in her vision!"

Manu's expression grew cold, "Are you doubting me?"

Aknadin growled, "Unless you can say how this child holds potential then I must."

"Because my eyes did not deceive me when my Ring reacted to her when she had summoned not one, but two Ka in order to protect her village from jeopardy." Manu shot back.

There was a stunned silence and Aknamkanon almost felt his eyes pop out in shock.

Heru, his Rod bearer, stammered, "S-Summon a Ka! And not just one but two! Surely you jest!"

Manu shook his head and Aknamkanon could feel a migraine grow.

"When I arrived, one of her Ka had activated its special ability in order to defend her and the villagers. It multiplied and exploded upon enemy contact." Manu elaborated and then he went one to explain what had occurred in the village. How when the smaller Ka was slashed, it did not have a backlash on her and protected her from harm. He also explained how the girl used her larger Ka to multiply and take out nearly all of the bandits.

At the end of his explanation he could hear someone choke.

He wanted to act the same.

Not only did this child summon two Ka but they had a special abilities. One with the ability to multiply and explode and another to protect from injury. The one with an ability to prevent damage to her Ba was especially unusual, that would mean that her Ka's injury would not injure her. It was rare to acquire a Ka with such an ability as many Ka's were from criminals and those with special properties only had damaging abilities.

The fact that she has summon two Ka's with social abilities meant that she bypassed several levels of difficulty that many of his court had trained arduously to reach, for to summon a Ka who had a special ability was several times harder than a normal Ka. Not to mention most of them used the DiaDhank to aid their summoning.

And if Manu's story was true then this child, who had no formal training and no tools to help her, had just bypassed and achieved an ability that very few of Khemet's history ever reached.

It was astonishing to believe.

Asim shook his head in disbelief, "Manu, you are my dearest friend but I cannot believe your claim unless I see for myself this ability you witnessed."

Manu shot his friend a look of hurt, "Then you would force this child to summon when it has not been a day since her first summoning? You yourself understand how taxing it is to body to summon consecutively."

Asim let out a deep sigh before he nodded. "I must, for I know you will not lie my dear friend but you must understand that it is very hard to believe you claim that a child no older than five summers old is able to do what took us many years of training to accomplish."

Manu opened his mouth ready to retort back when the young child tugged on his cloak. Manu blinked before he looked down on the young child and his court turned their attention to the young girl as she finally raised her head.

His breath held when he caught sight of her eyes. Her eyes held a shade of color he had never seen before and it felt as though those eyes would judge all who gazed into them. It reminded him of the God Ra, who he had once gazed at in a dream alone time ago.

He could hear the rest of his court gasp and choke in surprise and he could not blame them. However, his attention was to what she wanted to tell Manu.

The child was gazing worryingly at Manu and licked her lips before she opened her mouth and spoke in soft tones.

"I can call them here if you want me to." She said softly to Manu.

Manu almost looked like he wanted to reject that notion but the child continued.

"If they cannot believe you, I have to show them right? I can do it if I have to." The child mumbled.

Manu looked like he swallowed a sour fruit before he sighed wearily and nodded the child for the go ahead.

The child swallowed before she closed her eyes and breathed. Suddenly, he could feel it in the air. The gathering of magic and shadows all under tight but smooth control. It was such a refined control hat he could not believe the source of it was this young girl.

But he could feel it. How the magic resonated with his puzzle and he could tell the rest of his court could feel it too through their opened mouth expressions.

And suddenly, there was a short burst of light before he could here soft coos.

"Kuri!"

"Kuri Kuri!"

And then he saw two puffballs, one smaller but with wings and one larger but without extra appendages, floating in mid air and there was an awkward silence.

While he was expecting two Ka's from the girl and it was unbelievable in itself that she had achieved it, he was expecting her Ka's to be a little more… fearsome.

Not cute and cuddly. But then again perhaps that was too much expectation from a young child.

He heard a snort and his eyes flicked over to Nailah who seemed the most calm of his court but he could see that her lips were twitching and he had to remind herself that not only Nailah was the most feminine of his court, she was also the most mischievous.

He would know. He grew up with her after all.

Heru was the first to snap out of the stupor and reached out the larger puffball. "These are her Ka? While it is astonishing to see her successfully summon, I had expected a Ka that was able save her from jeopardy to be more… deadly."

Manu snorted, "The same one you are reaching out to is the one that drove away the bandits. The very same one that multiplied and exploded."

Heru jerked his hands away with wides eyes as his mouth snapped shut.

Finally, he heard a laugh reverberate in the throne room and it was from his side.

Shimon, his most trusted advisor and Ankh bearer could not help it. "Such a cute thing is it not. adorable and powerful, just like the child!"

The child just blinked at the announcement and tilted her head in confusion, just as her Ka's did the same.

Asim snapped out of his stupor before he approached the child. Her Ka's snapped their gazes towards him and he flinched but did not back away, instead he used his scale to weigh the young child's heart.

He hummed in satisfaction, "She is of pure heart. There is some confusion and fear in her heart but she is still young so perhaps she is afraid of her new environment."

Aknadin concentrated his Millennium Eye to gaze into the young one's heart before he frowned. "This is unusual, her Ba is perfectly split between light and dark. Perhaps that is why one of her Ka is of the light and one is of the dark."

"However, her Ka's are harmless unless you attack her. They are more defensive rather than offensive Ka's, more akin to guards to the young child." His brother commented and something peaked in his mind.

Guards?

An idea started to brew in his mind. "So she passes judgement?"

His Priests nodded in satisfaction and Manu's lips twitched into a small smile.

But then a different topic was brought up as Heru frowned. "But what are we to do with her now? She is much too young for any of the tasks we were to assign a youth. Despite her great talent, she has no experience."

That brought about understandable hums.

Manu spoke up, "I wanted to take her on as an apprentice. She would become a powerful mage given the right guidance."

There were nods, they could agree to that. But what else is she to do other than a student? A child this young needed more care than just education.

"Perhaps send her back and ask her to return when she is older?" Simon suggested.

Manu shook his head, "She would have been struck down by a bandit that had survived the explosion had I not arrived on time. It is much too dangerous to send her back and lose such potential."

There were agreeing mutters and his court debated as he gazed at the young child. The idea started to take form and Aknamkanon believed that this would be a good answer.

"Child," his voice rang clearly in the throne room, silencing all other voices as he addressed the little girl. The girl perked up at being addressed and her Ka's floated closer to her.

"Come before me." The pharaoh ordered and the child blinked before she nodded and released her hold of Manu's cloak. With slow hesitant steps, she walked towards him with her Ka's trailing behind her before she stopped before him.

His expression softened, "What is your name?"

The child gulped before she answered, though her gaze never left his. The child has courage.

"It is Eshe, Pharaoh."

"And how old are you?"

"I am four summers old, Pharaoh." Eshe answered slowly.

Four summers old. Perfect.

"Eshe, I must ask of a favor from you young child." He said gently.

She blinked in surprise. "A favor Pharaoh?"

He nodded gently, "Yes, you see I have a son the same age as you and I want you to be his friend."

The amber eyed girl's brow furrow in confusion.

"You see," Aknamkanon elaborated. "Since he lives in the palace, there are not many of his age for him to befriend. So I was wondering if you could do that for me."

Many of his court members were confused with this suggestion but he could see understanding flash through the eyes of Manu, Nailah and Shimon. It is always his closest that can read his thoughts.

The child blinked before her eyes dropped and she looked down on the floor. Her hand grips on the edge of her dress before she mutters something so soft, almost inaudible to hear.

"But my eyes…" Eshe mutters and her Ka's floated closer to her and nuzzled into her as they cooed softly.

Understanding flashed through Aknamkanon's. Her eyes, stunning they may be, were not of the norm. Many would be intimidated by such unnatural color, much less young children.

The Pharaoh briefly wonders if this child ever had anyone offer her friendship. It seems that the young child had something in common with his son.

"I ask you to at least try to befriend him." He answers gently and the amber eyed girl looked at him again before biting her lip before slowly nodding.

He believed in his son. That he would see past those orbs and see this child for who she is. They would become close friends, like how he became friends with Nailah and Manu.

He could see the fatigue wearing down on the child as she tried to stifle a yawn. He chuckled and the young girl blushed before muttering an apology. It was adorable and commendable how long this child has stayed up for after a long journey and summoning her Ka's for the second time so soon after her first.

"Manu." He addressed his friend and his friend waited for his orders. "Take this young one to her room to rest. She has had a long day."

The young child blinked and her Ka's cooed approvingly before nuzzling her cheeks one more time and disappearing back to where they came from.

"Yes my Pharaoh." Manu bowed before ushering the child out of the throne room. They left the room, their footsteps echoing down the hallway and slowly disappearing until the doors slammed shut

It was silent before Heru spoke.

"My Pharaoh, I wish to ask of you a question." He asked.

Aknamkanon turned his attention to Heru and nodded. "Speak."

"Why did you ask the young child to befriend the prince? While it may be a plight to give a prince a companion near his age, I do not believe that is the only reason you asked of the child to seek friendship towards the prince." Here questioned.

Aknamkanon chuckled, "You are right, that is not the only reason why I asked the young child to befriend my son."

Asim's brow furrowed, "So why?"

"It was to give my son a guard." Aknamkanon elaborated.

Asim and Heru blinked in confusion. "A guard?"

Comprehension flashed through his brothers eyes as he hummed. "I see, that would make sense."

"What would?" Asim questioned.

"The prince is still young and he would need a guard to protect him from danger." Aknadin explained.

Aknadin continued, "However, he would feel uncomfortable with the older guards looking after him. However, that young child is the same age as the prince and she is able to summon two Ka's."

Realization flashed through Heru's and Asim's gaze.

"I see, since they are the only two children in the palace and if the child befriends the prince, she would be around him constantly. She would also naturally protect the prince just as she would protect those who are close to her." Asim muttered as he held his chin in thought as he was reminded of what Manu had said in court earlier on.

"And added that the girl can already fend off bandits using her Ka's mean she would be able to fend of any assignations or felons of the prince easily. She would not stand out unlike any older guard would and will be able to guard the prince inconspicuously." Heru hummed.

Aknamkanon nodded firmly, "Yes. She will also train under Manu to become a powerful mage. She will become a powerful asset to my son in the future."

"Once she has proven herself, I will assign her to be my son's personal guard in the future." Aknamkanon announced and his court nodded with him. They could understand the logic of that train of thought.

The court discussed other topic such as how to train the child and what to train her in. In the end, it was decided that she was to learn magic and combat under Manu as well as how to treat injuries and ailments which will be taught by Nailah. She will also learn language and diplomacy in order to stand by his son's side when he is Pharaoh and that will be taught by Shimon.

Any other topics that she would be taught was decided upon and he dismissed his court for the day. Aknamkanon stood up from his throne and walked off to his room when he was stopped by someone.

"Shimon, is there something amiss?" He asked his old friend.

Shimon smiled as he walked in step with his Pharaoh. "Nothing much old friend, perhaps indulge me in my question."

"Then ask, you do not need to ask old friend." The pharaoh chuckled.

"Asking that girl to befriend the prince to be her guard, that was not the only reason was it not?" Shimon asked.

Aknamkanon had to chuckle, his friend always saw through him.

"You are correct that it is not just for that reason that I asked the child to befriend my son." Aknamkanon admitted to Shimon.

Aknamkanon stopped walking as he gazed at the garden of the palace.

"I am afraid." He started, "My son has not have any close companions and he has grown to be very lonely."

Shimon turned as he listened to his old friend speak. "I do not wish for him to have that sort of childhood and I feared had he no companions that he would have grown used to being isolated in the future."

Aknamkanon sighed as he gazed at the garden. He thought about the little girl, who looked like she has not experienced friendship with anyone. It was a sad thought for someone so young. The child was so very similar to her son.

"That child too. She has the same look as my son does." Aknamkanon muttered as he remembered that amber eyed gaze, that constantly looked down. Not daring to look up so as to not frighten anyone with her unique sight.

"I hope that with this companionship, their loneliness will ease, even just a little." He explained to his old friend.

"That will only work if your son does not shy away from that child's gaze. Stunning they may be, they can be intimidating to even adults, much less children." Shimon pointed out.

Aknamkanon chuckled, "I believe in my son to see beyond just her eyes my friend."

Shimon chuckled, "So you do, and I as well believe the young prince will see that child for more than her gaze."

Aknamkanon smiled, "Good."

* * *

 **And That is the end of this chapter! Atem will finally make his appearance next chapter! I am so excited!**

 **Akanamkanon High priests are as so:**

 **Manu- Ring**

 **Nailah- Necklace**

 **Heru- Rod**

 **Asim- Scales**

 **Shimon- Ankh**

 **Aknadin-Eye**

 **Aknamkanon- Puzzle**

 **Also, I forgot to mention but for those of you who are not familiar with the terms, here it is:**

 **Ba- life energy which is used to summon monster**

 **Ka-Egyptian Spirit monsters, in other words duel monsters. These beings are essentially a reflection of the persons soul**

 **And are any of the characters OOC? Tell me and if you think Eshe is Mary Sueish, she is not. You won't see it for a while though. She has ton's of weaknesses and one of her flaws is that she does not really look into people's eyes because she is scared that she will scare them away. It has happened for the year she stayed in the village and for a four year old, it is a legitimate fear.**

 **Also her summoning, it may seem as if she is really powerful and great but she will have problems in the future, do not worry. She is not all powerful. Also have you noticed, her Ka's are Kuriboh and Winged Kuriboh. They are special ability Ka's but have low offensive abilities. I believe that Atem would not really summon Kuriboh by himself because I read somewhere his actual Ka beside the three gods is maybe the black luster soldier, though that is unconfirmed. I believe he would not learn of Kuriboh's existence unless someone else introduced them to him and thus Eshe!**

 **So how did you feel about this chapter? Please review and tell me :)**

 **Thank you very much!**


	3. Chapter 3

**And thus my third chapter! And finally the appearance of one of the series's most iconic character XD But remember, right now they are just four year old kids so they are a bit childish in comparison, but time will past (just not in this chapter) and they will grow up eventually. So if they are acting OOC, it is just because they are still young. They will grow into their characters soon enough.**

 **Also, take notice that this chapter came out so quickly! I never churn out chapters this fast normally, Under the Moonlight is still in the process of writing the second chapter and I'm almost done with chapter four of this series… Why am I going to quick? But I think i'll start to slow down since I have essays and an exam due so i'll be slowing down for at least a week, so unless at most you'll see chapter 4 but maybe not chapter 5 for a while.**

 **But enough of my words, enjoy!**

 **I also do not own the picture used for this cover story**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything but my OC's and I give credit to Merry Sioux for some scenes in future chapters :)**

* * *

Eshe continued to look down as she was being led down the hallway to her new room. She was pondering over what had just happened in the throne room.

Although his very presence demanded respect from all, she did not expect the Pharaoh to be so benevolent. All of the rumors she heard about the Pharaoh from passing merchants in her village were that he was a very stern person, so she did not expect such kind expressions on his face.

And also, his request…

Manu still held onto her hand reassuringly and glanced at the child every so often. He was worried that there was a furrow on her brows but perhaps it was due to the fatigue that lined the child's body language. It has been a long journey and a long meeting, he did not expect any less.

"Manu?" A soft voice rang out in the empty hallway. The high priest looked down at his charge as they stopped walking as she looked up to him. "What is the prince like?"

"The prince?" Manu echoed.

Eshe nodded, "The Pharaoh asked me to become friends with him, so I wanted to know what he is like."

Manu pursed his lips and hummed, "The prince is… a very quiet individual."

Eshe blinked, her expression surprised at the simple answer.

"He is a very intelligent person, despite his age." Manu elaborated. "However, he has no one to converse to in the palace that is close to his age. Many of the adults leave him alone so most of the time he is left to his own devices."

Eshe listened attentively as Manu spoke and he gazed dropped to the floor.

"He sounds lonely." Eshe mumbled.

Manu nodded. "He is very similar to you. I believe that you will be great friends with the prince."

Eshe bit her lip, "But my eyes-"

"Will not intimidate the prince." Manu cut her off.

The High Priest kneeled down to her height as he held her shoulders. "You will be fine. He will not shy away simply because of your gaze."

The girl forlornly looked at the floor as she gripped her dress. "Really?"

Manu nodded solemnly, "Yes I believe so."

After a few moments, the little girl nodded slowly. "Okay."

Manu smiled reassuringly to the child as he stood up and started to lead the child away again.

Slowly they walked down the hallway and many servants and guards bowed down to the High Priest as he passed by. Many also looked on curiously to the young child whose hand he held but nearly recoiled once they spotted her eyes and quickly moved away.

Eshe would have flinched if not for the fact that squeezed her hand reassuringly and that warmed her heart and pink dotted her cheeks.

Finally, they arrived in front of a door and Manu pushed it open to reveal a living quarters fit for one person. Inside lied a bed, an empty cabinet as well as a single desk and chair, as well as a closet. There was a single window in the room that gave the child a view of the palace garden as well. It was a simple but convent room for the child.

"This will be your living quarters from now on." Many explained as he let go of Eshe's hands and let her explore the room. Manu's lips twitched up when the child's mood brightened as she explored her new room with curious eyes.

"I will instruct several servants to bring your belongings here, as well as several new clothes for you to wear in the palace." Manu explained as Eshe looked up and nodded.

"If you wish to clean yourself, you will need to go down the hall and turn left to the washroom." The High Priest explained and was pleased that the child was following along.

"We will start your lessons the day after tomorrow. I will come to bring you to the study." Manu announced and Eshe frowned.

"Why not tomorrow?" She asked.

"You need time to recover from summoning your Ka's consecutively." Manu explained and comprehension flashed through her eyes as she nodded.

The little girl had to stifle a yawn before the High Priest chuckled and patted her head. Eshe pouted as her head was being pouted and that served to amuse the man even more.

"Take some time to rest today and tomorrow. You may also explore the palace tomorrow once you have recovered from your fatigue." Manu stated and Eshe nodded.

"I will leave you to rest then." Manu turned to leave and as he was about to close the door he whispered something.

"Good night child."

Eshe nodded again as she yawned.

"Good night Master."

Manu's hands stilled and Eshe could hear chuckles outside the door before the door snapped shut and she was left in the room on her own.

Soon Eshe was left on her own in the room and she took some time to look out the window. They had arrived at the capital near dusk and now the sun is completely gone from the sky and the moon shone brightly in the night.

Soon afterwards her belongings were brought in by some servants and after she thanked them, she changed into her sleepwear and tucked herself in for the night.

She wondered what was going to happen to her from now on as her breathing evened out as she fell into dreams.

…

Sunlight streamed in from the open window and Eshe groaned as tried to cover her head with the covers. She shifted and turned but eventually sighed as she got up from the bed.

The little girl rubbed her eyes as she looked out of the window. She felt less fatigue compared to yesterday and that was a good sign for the girl. She knelt down and said a prayer to the Gods before she began her day.

She stretched her hand and grabbed a towel before she set of to find the washroom.

Following the directions she was given last night, she turned dow the hallway and found the washroom and quickly entered. It was a public bath with water and other cleaning kits spread around. No one was there in the morning and Eshe thought she was lucky to get the washroom aloe as she quickly washed and then just as quickly left the washroom and headed back to her room.

However, on her way back several servants passed by her, and young she may be, Eshe was not unobservant and she noticed how the servants shied away from her as soon as they saw her eyes.

Once she reached her room, the little girl heaved a sigh as she was reminded of her first few days back when she had just woken up in the village. Many adults and children who were not intimidated by her background shied away once they saw her eyes.

"Unnatural."

"Cursed."

"Weird."

Such comments were whispered behind her back and while she was hurt at first, the pain had numbed and soon she was ignoring such comments all together.

However, that pain was coming back again, and she had to wonder why such thoughts were coming back now.

She slumped against the door of her room as she folded her knees up and hugged them.

Perhaps it was because she was in a new environment and in the village, she had big sister Aziza and grandpa Akil to depend on. Here though, she had no one except her master who was undoubtedly very busy as a High Priest.

He would have no time to care for a single homesick child.

Eshe stayed there for a few moments before she shook her head wildly and stood up, determination lining her features. She was not going to sulk!

She spent some time rearranging her belongings in her room since she had no time to actually do it the night before, too tired to do much but sleep.

She placed a stuffed camel by the bed and several clothes in her closet. A few marbles were placed into a drawer as well as a small sewing kit that was gifted to her by sister Aziza. A sennet board was placed on the table as well which was gifted to her by grandpa Akil and she was going to treasure them.

She also placed several papyruses on top of her table, basic medical treatments that she could go over if she needed to.

By the end of her rearrangement her room looked less empty and more comfortable living in.

However, she was left with nothing to do now.

The day was left for to relax and recover from her fatigue, however, she had nothing to do. Back at the village, most of the time she spent her time learning from sister Aziza and grandpa Akil and from tomorrow onwards she would learn from her master.

But tomorrow is not there yet, so she was bored being left to her own devices.

Eshe huffed as she plopped her head on the table. She sighed before she turned her head and looked at the window when she blinked at the sight of the palace garden.

She jumped up when she remembered her master saying that she could explore the palace grounds. The little girl has also never seen as much greenery in the palace garden anywhere else before.

So Eshe quickly left the room and tried to venture towards the palace garden. She turned down the hallways and most of the time ended up somewhere she has never been to before before she bumped into one of the High Priests.

"Goodness child!" Shimon laughed as the child tried to apologize, "Now what are you doing here?"

Eshe stammered as she looked down at the ground. "M-Master gave me the day to rest so I wanted to explore the palace gardens…"

She tried off and Shimon had to chuckle at how nervous the young child was. It was adorable how this young child seemed to amuse him.

And Master! 'She must be referring to Manu… I'll have to tease him about this later.' Shimon smirked mentally.

He winked at the little girl, "Well this is definitely not the right way if you want to go there, if you want to go to the palace gardens turn left down this hall way and…"

As Shimon gave her directions towards her destination, Eshe quickly thanked the High Priest and with a quick bow ran off to her intended goal.

Shimon chuckled, "Ah how great it is to be young again."

Eshe could not help the flush creeping up her face. She could not look up from the ground and she desperately wanted to cover her face.

How embarrassing! To bump into someone, and a High Priest no less!

She groaned as she felt she wanted to fall into a hole and never come up again.

However, she blinked when she had arrived at her destination without realizing it.

And what greeted her was a view of green.

Despite Khemet being in the dessert, the palace garden overflowed with so much greenery that the young child almost could not believe the sight that she saw was not an illusion.

She slowly stepped into the palace gardens and her eyes were wide with wonder. She looked on and her mouth opened in awe as she touched a green leaf and she gazed at all the flowers she had never seen before. She could even see a small stream passed through the gardens and it enhanced the vision she was seeing.

It was like being a dream come to life.

The little girl was in such awe that she was not paying attention and as expected of someone who was not paying attention to her surroundings, she tripped and with a yelp, landed on her face.

Eshe groaned as she could eel slight stings around her body before she stiffened when she heard a voice.

"Are you alright?"

Eshe blinked before she looked up to the owner of that voice.

It was a boy, with tri-colored hair in shades of amethyst, yellow and black. He wore gold accessories, much like the High Priests did and had a gold piece of the Eye of Horus upon his forehead. He looked to be around the same age as Eshe and she wondered who the boy was.

However, it was his eyes that caught her attention.

He had such a beautiful shade of amethyst for his eyes, it somewhat reminded her of the Pharaoh yesterday.

'He has such pretty eyes…' Eshe wondered.

She could not help but stare but she snapped out of it when his expression turned to one of concern.

She had stared at a stranger with her eyes! She ducked her head down as she sat up.

"Yes! Yes, i'm fine!" She hastily answered.

"That's good!" She could hear the relief in the boy's voice and she saw a hand enter her vision.

"Need a hand?" He asked.

"Ah, thank you…" Her voice softened as she took that hand that was offered to her and he helped her get up.

She dusted any dust off her clothes before turning her attention to the boy.

"Thank you for helping me…" Her voice was soft.

"It's no problem, but why won't you look at me?" The boy asked.

Eshe screwed her eyes shut as she bit her lip, "Because my eyes…"

"Your eyes?"

"They scare people." She answered.

"Why?"

Eshe's eyes snapped open in surprise.

"Why?" She echoed dumbly.

"Why do they scare people away?" The boy elaborated.

Eshe could not help it, she looked up and looked at the boy in surprise.

"Because my eye color is not normal!"

"Really?" The boy tilted his head in confusion.

"I think they look really pretty! Like the color of the setting sun!" The boy stated.

Eshe's mouth opened dumbly as she stared at the boy.

'That's the first time someone has said something like that about my eyes…'

She would forever be embarrassed about what she blurted out after that.

"Your eyes are really pretty too!" She blurted out and her hands snapped up over her mouth as her face burned.

The boy jerked a little as his eyes widened before a sweet smile spread across his face.

"Thanks."

Eshe really wanted to cover her face right now.

After a short moment of silence, the boy offered his hand out for her. "I'm Atem, it's nice to meet you."

Eshe blinked before a her lips twitched up into a small smile as she shook his hand. "I'm Eshe, Its nice to meet you too."

They both smiled and he laughed while she giggled before he directed them over to a spot that was covered in shade and the two children sat down comfortable before they began to chat.

Ate started the conversation, "I've never seen you around the palace before, so where are you from?"

Eshe felt really warm, it was the first time she's talked to someone near her age! "I'm from a small village far west from the Capital. Master Manu brought me here yesterday."

Atem tilted his head, "Master Manu? You mean High Priest Manu right?"

Eshe nodded her head, "Un! He's going to be my teacher in magic and summoning from tomorrow onwards."

Atem's eyes widened, "Really! But aren't you a little too young to start learning magic?"

Eshe tilted her head, "I'm four summer old though, is that too young?"

"I think so…" Atem nodded his head cautiously before his eyes brightened, "Wow! we're the same age!"

Eshe's eyes brightened too, "You're four summer old too?"

Atem nodded quickly, "Yup!"

"This is the first time i've really talked to someone who's my age!" Eshe gestured her hands wildly in excitement.

Atem's eyes were bright "Me too!"

But then he frowned, "But weren't there any children in your village?"

Eshe blinked before she smiled sadly. "There were a lot of children at my village, but they wouldn't talk to me."

Atem's frown deepened, "Why not?"

Eshe played with her hands as she looked down, "They were scared of my eyes, so they stayed away from me."

Atem frowned as he looked down at the girl who looked so lonely before he grabbed her hand.

Eshe blinked in surprise as she looked into the determined eyes of Atem.

"I'm not afraid of you, so i'll be your friend!" Ate declared and Eshe was shocked stunned before a brilliant smile spread across her face.

"Un!" She nodded when an idea popped into her head. "Then can I give you a nickname. I heard that's what friends do."

Atem nodded, "I don't mind."

"Then…" Eshe closed her eyes in thought before she opened her eyes and smiled in satisfaction. "Ate! your nickname will be Ate!"

"That's such a simple nickname." Atem muttered with a sweat drop.

Eshe wilted a little and moped like a sad puppy, "It's not good?"

Atem shook his head wildly, "No! No! It's a great nickname!"

The amber eyed girl perked up slightly, "Really?"

"Really." Ate reassured her and he huffed a sigh of relief when the girl perked up more.

"So how are you able to learn magic now? I know other students do not begin learning until they are at least six summers old." Atem questioned steering the two children back on the topic.

Eshe made a noise of confusion before Atem explained, "They start when they are six summers old because their Ba is not large enough to start practicing magic."

Realization cleared up in the eyes of Eshe, "Oh, it might be because I can summon my Ka already."

Atem almost sputtered, "You can summon your Ka?!"

"I can summon two Ka's." Eshe commented offhandedly.

"Two Ka's?!" Atem exclaimed.

Eshe was slightly weirded out by her friends reaction, "Yeah, is that weird?"

Atem just looked at her as if she lost her head, "Weird? That's amazing! You're probably the youngest summoner in the history of Khemet!"

Eshe looked at her friends with wide eyes as a blush spread across her face. "You're making it too big of a deal…" She muttered embarrassingly.

Atem shook his head, his lips set in a straight line determinedly, "I'm not! You're amazing!"

Eshe's blush became one shade deeper.

An idea popped into Atem's mind, "Can you show me your Ka?"

The amber eyed girl blinked, "Right now?"

Atem nodded excitedly, "Yeah!"

Eshe bit her lip. Her master told her she was supposed to rest today, so she isn't sure if she is allowed to summon her Ka but her first friend really wanted to see…

She nodded determinedly.

'If it's just one it should be fine right?' She thought.

Atem was grinning as his friend slowly closed her eyes and breathed slowly.

And then he could feel it, the change of magic in the air.

And in a short burst of light, brown fur invaded his vision.

"Kuri Kuri!"

He blinked as he slowly took in his friend's Ka. It was small and was covered in brown fur and had small wings on its back and was looking at him curiously.

Eshe held her breath as her friend stared at her summon.

"Your Ka is so small…" Atem breathed out as he poked the small monster. It wiggled at his touched and cooed cutely at him. All other Ka's he's seen being summoned looked much more fearsome compared to what was in front of him.

"I have another Ka, but he's just a little bigger than this one." Eshe added softly.

"What's his name?" Atem asked as he poked the monster again as it cooed cutely at him.

Eshe blinked, now that he mentioned it she did not really now her summon's name…

The monster cooed something to his master and Eshe could hear something echo in her head.

"Winged Kuriboh…" Eshe echoed, somehow feeling that was right. "His name is Winged Kuriboh."

"Winged Kuriboh? The name fits." Atem mused approvingly.

He started petting his friend's Ka and Winged Kuriboh cooed approvingly before he nuzzled into the boy. "Haha! stop it! that tickles!"

As Atem was laughing Eshe felt relieved that her friend wasn't disappointed at her.

"So how did you first summon this little guy?" Ate asked as he laughed.

Eshe was about to answer when a voice cut in.

"Were you not supposed to rest today, my little student."

Manu walked into the gardens, a stern expression on his face as he looked at the little girl.

Eshe jolted up, her eyes wide before she looked down, her Ka cooing worryingly at her.

"I asked you a question, were you not supposed to be resting today." He asked again, his voice flat.

Eshe nodded meekly.

"You're lessons start tomorrow, so you were supposed to rest. So why did you summon your Ka?" He asked sternly.

The girl's shoulders slumped, "I'm sorry…"

Winged Kuriboh cooed sadly over her shoulder.

"Tell me why I shouldn't punish you?" Manu asked, eyes narrow.

Eshe flinched and she would not open her mouth to answer that, she did disobey him.

However, another voice cut in just as she was resigned to accept her punishment.

"Stop!"

Eshe's head snapped up as Atem stood in front of her, scowling at Manu.

"I was the one who asked her to summon her Ka. Don't punish her Manu!" Ate exclaimed as he defended his newest friend.

"Ate…" Eshe breathed in shock.

Manu frowned at the boy, "But my prince-"

"If it's anyone that needs to be punished," Atem cut him off. "It would be me! So don't punish Eshe!"

Manu stared down at Atem and it stayed that way for a long time before he sighed. "Eshe."

Eshe jolted at being addressed. "Yes!"

"I will let you off this time, but next time listen. You really needed to rest so take care of your health more next time." Manu ordered.

Eshe blinked before she stammered a yes in affirmation.

"But you don't feel any fatigued from summoning again?" Manu asked the child.

Eshe blinked, "Not really, I was more tired from being on horseback yesterday than calling Winged Kuriboh."

"Winged Kuriboh?" Manu echoed.

"My Ka. The bigger one is just called Kuriboh I think." Eshe pointed at her monster. Winged Kuriboh cooed to her master to tell her she got the names right.

Manu looked pensive for a short moment before he sighed. "Anyway, please get some rest today because tomorrow will be a long day."

Eshe nodded firmly, "Yes, master."

Manu had an expression of fond exasperation before he turned to Atem, "You did not have to be so defensive prince. I was not going to punish her simply because of this."

Atem frowned, "But you were being mean to her!"

Manu held a hand out to calm him, "I simply wanted her to rest before she exhausts herself. Summoning takes up a lot of energy for normal people so it would be detrimental to her health if my student summons on a whim."

A look of understanding crossed Atem's face, "Oh."

"Oh indeed." Manu agreed, "I was simply worried about her health. However, it seems that summoning her Ka's does not take a great deal of energy than I expected. My worries seem to be unneeded."

Manu folded his hands, "However, it is a good thing to defend your friends my prince. It is a good trait of the future Pharaoh to defend those he hold close."

Atem hummed.

The girl tilted her head in confusion though, "Prince?"

Manu and Atem looked at her in confusion. They glanced at each other before they looked at her again.

"You don't know?" Manu asked.

Eshe's shoulders slumped, "I have amnesia from when I was found at my village a year ago. I don't know a lot of things."

Comprehension passed Manu's face. "That's right…" He mumbled.

He glanced at Atem who looked a little worried and sighed. It would come up sometime sooner or later, it just came up sooner than he thought it would.

"This boy," Manu began, "Is the heir to the throne and the sole son of Pharaoh Aknamkanon, the future Pharaoh Prince Atem."

Eshe blinked, and blinked again. Her eyes slowly widened and her jaw dropped.

She looked at her friend, "You're the prince…"

Atem looked sad as his shoulders dropped. "Yeah…"

'She'll start becoming respectful to me like everyone else is…' He thought sadly.

All his life, he wanted someone who would look at him as himself and not just the prince of Khemet. He wanted someone other than his father. But all of the High Priests looked to him as the prince and there were no children in the palace near his age who would befriend him in fear of his status.

He was lonely.

Then he saw a girl he's never seen before in the palace and decided to help her when she tripped. This girl talked to him like a normal person. No pretenses,no fake smiles and she became his first friend! But now that she knew who he was…

'I'm going to be alone again…'

"Umm…" Eshe's voice stopped his train of thought as she looked worried.

"I can still call you Ate, right?" She asked.

Atem blinked.

"I mean, do you still want to be friends? I would get it if a prince would not want to be friends with a commoner…" Eshe trailed off as her shoulders dropped and she looked down.

"Of course I still want to be friends with you!" He blurted out and Eshe nearly jumped at his voice.

"I should be asking if you still want to be friends with me!" He exclaimed and Eshe looked at him with a furrow on her brow.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I'm the prince!"

"So? You were a prince when we became friends even though I didn't know it, and you haven't changed. Why wouldn't I want to still be friends with you?" She pointed out.

Atem looked at her as he opened and closed his mouth like a fish.

Then he snorted, then snickered, and then he laughed like he never did before.

Eshe was a little confused at what was happening and Manu looked very amused at what he was seeing.

The small drama in front of him was simply adorable.

When Atem stopped laughing, Eshe asked cautiously, "So we're still friends?"

The prince grinned, "Yeah, we're still friends."

Eshe let a relieved smile cross her face.

Atem smiled when an idea popped into his head, "Hey, do you know how to play Sennet?"

Eshe blinked but nodded anyway.

The prince grinned, "I have a Sennet board in my room. Let's play that together!"

Eshe blinked before she smiled, "Okay!"

The two children quickly ran out of the gardens, Winged Kuriboh excitedly floating behind her master.

"Ah!" Eshe exclaimed before she backtracked, "I'm going master!"

Manu nodded, "Don't forget to get plenty of rest for tomorrow." He reminded the child.

"Un!" She yelled back as she ran off to follow her friend.

Manu sighed fondly as he turned and headed down the opposite way. Hearing the laughter of two children echo through the palace walls.

…

Above the palace garden hidden at a corner, two figures had watched what had occurred.

Shimon chuckled, "The meeting went perfectly my Pharaoh, they will be close companions from now on."

Aknamkanon hummed in approval, "I believed in my son, he only did what he thought was right."

Shimon hummed and smiled in return, "So he did."

* * *

 **And that is done! Chapter 3 is done and aren't they so freaking damn cute! And finally the intro is out of the way!**

 **I know Atem is OOC here, but that is because he is a child right now. A four year old to be specific, you won't see the cool, calm and collected, smirking Pharaoh for quite a while. He will grow into it eventually but enjoy the cute smiles for now. Eshe will also mature eventually but right now she is a scared insecure child. She'll get calmer when she is older.**

 **Also, Atem being emotional is practically canon. In the flashbacks of him as a child, he cried a lot and showed a ton of emotion, so I wanted to illustrate that in my writing.**

 **The next chapter there will be a time skip, 2 years would have passed by then. Look forward to it!**

 **Read and Review! I don't know if you like this story or not and my motivation goes down and my writing slows and that makes me depressed I would love to hear your thoughts. I hope to see you guys soon :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4! Oh my gosh! I haven't shown this much motivation for writing in such a long time XD I feel like i'm rolling into it so much smoothly than I used to.**

 **I'm kind of scared i'm doing too well -.-'**

 **Well here it is! Enjoy!**

 **I do not own the picture that is used for my cover**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything but my OC's and credit to Merry Sioux for later chapters!**

* * *

"Hmm…I wonder if i'm doing something wrong…"

Eshe mumbled as she walked down the hallway. Her hands were holding her books against her chest as she pondered over her latest problem.

She was longer four summers old, two years have passed since she has arrived in the palace. The little girl has become slightly taller, and her hair has gotten a little bit longer. As a person, she has also become slightly more outgoing, her eyes brighter than before. However, she still speaks softly and she still look away from people's gaze, more for their sake rather than for her own.

Eshe hummed as her brows were furrowed in concentration as she went through other possibilities in her head before she sighed.

"I wonder why this is the only thing I can't do…" She mumbled.

"Perhaps you want some advice?"

Eshe blinked before she turned around. She smiled softly at the sight of her best friend, "Ate!"

Prince Atem had also matured these past two years. Having grown taller and his hair having grown longer and spikier. However, his eyes no longer held the sad glint that it had two years ago and his speech has slightly matured with his lessons takin effect.

Both had matured as the years gone by, what hasn't changed was that they still had that childish innocence and their bond as friends has gotten stronger.

"How was your magic lessons?" Eshe smiled as she asked her best friend.

Atem gestured her continue walking as he followed in step with her, "It went well. However, it will take some time before I catch up to you."

Eshe smiled, "You'll get there soon. I only had a head start from you."

Atem huffed, "But I want to hurry it up and get to your level quickly."

The bicolor closed her eyes in fond exaperation, "Is this because the amount of time we spent together has lessened?"

The prince hummed in agreement, "The number of lessons I have increased again."

"If I can catch up to you, we can have our lessons together. That way we can spend more time in each other's presence." He explained

Eshe hummed, "Well it makes sense since Master Manu is also teaching you magic, if you caught up to me then we would have lessons together."

Atem huffed and nodded, "Exactly, but i'm not doing well enough to catch up to you anytime soon. And with the speed you are learning, it might take more time than I would like."

Eshe looked at her best friend oddly, "It won't take you that long…"

Atem looked at her with deadpan eyes, "People are calling you the prodigy mage. With how quickly you are learning magic they are wondering if you will eventually replace Manu as the Millennium Ring bearer."

Eshe laughed strainly, it was embarrassing to hear praise, "Those are just baseless rumors. I'm no prodigy, I just put a lot of effort into my studies. Besides, it is Master's son who is the true prodigy. He can craft spells with such refine skill, it is more likely that he will inherit Master's position in the Pharaoh's court."

"You've met Manu's son before?" Atem asked and Eshe nodded.

"Only once," she pointed out calmly. "Last year when Master had something to attend to and could not attend my lesson. He asked his son to teach me instead."

"What is he like?" Atem looked to her friend curiously.

"He's a lot older than us," Eshe forehead scrunched up as she tried to remember, "He looked to be about ten summers older than us and he looks very similar to Master. He has the same eyes and nose as Master."

Atem hummed and Eshe added, "I think you'll meet him eventually but I haven't seen him since. I heard from Master though that he might graduate early if he continues to progress as he is."

The tri-colored boy raised a brow, "That's impressive."

Eshe hummed in agreement.

Then Atem added, "But I still think you are doing too well too fast in your magic lessons."

Eshe frowned as she opened her mouth but Atem cut her off, "Don't downplay it. You are definitely not the average mage. You have already cleared many of the intermediate studies that would take others years to study to even just reach."

Eshe looked at him flatly, "Then what about you, in the past two months you bulldozed through three quarters of the beginners studies already. You're way more impressive than me."

"But i'm still not fast enough to catch up to you yet." Atem pointed out.

"That's only because your Ba is so huge and it is still increasing as we continue to row. Once your control has improved you will definitely be better than me in no time." Eshe pointed out softly.

Atem hummed before he changed the topic, "So from your mutterings, I don't suppose summoning has been going too well."

Eshe slumped and her steps slowed, "No its not. I just don't understand what's causing it."

Atem frowned, "So even Manu cannot figure out what is wrong?"

Eshe shook her head. "Master forbid me two years ago from summoning any other Ka other than Winged Kuriboh and Kuriboh because my reserves were too small. But my reserves have grown large enough now to try summoning a new Ka."

"I remember, you told me about that when you just started learning two years ago. So its not a matter of power, you have that now." Atem mused.

"No its not, so when I tried summoning a new Ka last week I thought I would succeed but nothing happened." Eshe sighed.

"So is it a technical problem?" Atem asked but Eshe shook her head.

"Master was guiding me throughout the whole process but he could not spot any mistakes that I could have made. Master even let me try summoning from his Wedjut but nothing happened." Eshe explained.

"So its not a technical problem, nor is it a lack of summons to answer your calls." Atem surmised.

"Yup, so Master was kind of puzzled why I can't seem to summon any other Ka." Eshe sighed.

Atem frowned as he saw the frustration lining his friend's face. It was unlike her to have such an expression and it bothered him to see that.

But he blinked when an idea popped into his head, "Maybe the monsters will not answer to a master that is too young?"

Eshe looked at him questionably, "Then what are my Kuribohs then?"

Atem shrugged, "They fall into a different category for simply being special effect monsters."

Eshe groaned as she covered her face with her books, "If that theory is true, how long will intake before I can summon a new Ka?"

Atem snickered at his friends dilemma before she shot him an annoyed look.

The two stopped walking as they reached Eshe's room. Slowly she pushed the door open and entered her room.

Atem walked in and surveyed the place. There were not many changes after two years have passed. On the bed was the stuffed camel that is starting to swear with age and on her desk were scattered pieces of papyruses filled with notes from all of her lessons, some had even fallen to the floor from the wind blowing in the room from the window.

Eshe was cleaning up all of her notes and gathered them all before she put them in another drawer and was rummaging through her desk when he noticed the Sennet board.

On the edge of the desk was her Sennet board, still kept with care but wearing with age and use and he could not help but smirk.

He did have some time before his next lesson later in the afternoon…

"Eshe," the girl blinked when she heard her best friend, "Do you have some time right now?"

Eshe quickly looked over her shoulder and out of the window to gauge the position of the sun.

"Yes," she answered slowly when she confirmed that she did have time. She turned and her eyes deadpanned when she the smirk on her best friend's face.

"Want to play some Sennet?" He pointed at the board and she pouted.

"I don't mind, but wipe that expression of your face. Its not like you'll win." She grumbled as she cleared her desk and grabbed the board and placed it on her bed.

Atem's smirk did not disappear even as he sat down on the bed comfortably, "You haven't won even once these past two years, i'm more surprised with the fact that you haven't given up yet."

Eshe blew a puff of hot air, "I don't know how you keep on beating me-"

"Because you don't really strategize well." Atem interjected.

"Ate!" Eshe whined and Atem raised his hands up with an amused expression.

"I swear I'll beat you one of these days!" Eshe muttered and Atem laughed.

It was great that she never changed. She was not all that great in the game, and she disliked losing to him so often, but she was persistent. She really wanted to win against him at least once ever since that fateful day they met.

'Besides' Atem mused as Eshe began with the first move, 'She plays this game because she knows how much I like playing it.'

That thoughtfulness of hers has never changed for the past two years and he doubts it ever will.

…

Eshe's eyes twitched as she looked at the Sennet board.

"I won again." Atem stated smugly.

Eshe was brooding as she stared at the board, "One more time!"

"Do you even have time for another game?" Atem pointed out.

Eshe glanced out of the window to check the sun's position again and nodded, "I still have plenty of time. What about you?"

Atem nodded, "My lessons start the same time yours do so if you have time, I do as well."

So they cleared the board before they began another game. Eshe started to speak just as she put down a piece.

"Speaking of which, have you seen Mana recently?" She asked.

The prince looked at her incredulously, "Haven't you heard? she still hasn't recovered yet."

The amber eyed girl frowned, "From her cold? Hasn't it been a while already?"

Atem nodded, before he placed his own piece down, "Yeah, her mother said that it was considerably better than a few days ago but she still can't leave her bed yet."

"Miss Masika right?" Eshe hummed, "It must be tough to have your mother be the head of the Healers, you can't even leave your bed even if you want to."

Atem rolled his eyes, "I bet she is wailing in her bed about how bored she is and that she wants to prank someone."

Eshe's laughter was strained moving her piece forward, "No kidding, the last time she pranked someone was two weeks ago right? The one on the noble with the long nose."

Atem smirked as he moved his piece forward in response, "That was priceless, do you remember the man's face?"

Eshe nearly burst out laughing at the memory, "How could I forget, oh Ra! He eyes were bulged out so badly!"

The two children laughed for a few moments before they continued their game.

"I'm surprised that you didn't punish her that time." Eshe stated as she moved her piece along the board.

Atem started scowling as he jammed his piece down on the board, "I think the man deserved it."

The girl looked at her best friend worriedly as she reached out to touch his shoulder. "What happened the night? You know I wasn't allowed into the party so I don't have any details to go off from."

Atem was glowering at the board, "That man wanted to take more from the nearby villagers even as the drought is getting worse! He wanted to starve more people for his own wealth when he didn't need to!"

Eshe's eyes softened in understanding, "Is this because of what I told you before about corrupt nobles?"

…

The conversation had occurred when they had just become friends. Two months after meeting each other, they had snuck out into the city to explore. It was during their exploration when they had heard a commotion and encountered a child thief.

The child had white hair and looked very haggard and in his hands were some bread that he had stolen from a nearby stall. He looked ready to bolt but was frozen when he realized that the two of them had spotted him.

At that time, Atem had wanted to report the thief but Eshe took pity on him and let him get away. It was after that incident they got into their first fight.

They argued and he asked why did she let the thief go when she knew thievery was a crime but Eshe could not agree to his reasoning and said he looked like he was starving and all he stole was bread. The child did not hurt anybody.

But Atem was nothing but stubborn and did not agree with her and he gave her the cold shoulder for a while after that incident. It worried the other people in the palace since they could not understand why they were fighting since they were keeping their mouths shut about it.

However, Eshe while soft-spoken was also very persistent and kept on trying to explain her reasoning. Atem at the time was tired of not being able to talk to his friend and relented and listened to his friend.

Apparently It was something that had happened back when she was still living in her village.

Two months after she had started living in the village, a noble came in the village and ordered the villagers to give him all of their valuables. Many of the villagers, especially the men argued against that order but he threatened that he could kick them out of their homes since they lived on his land.

So without anything they could do, the villagers gave all they had even those things kept for emergencies to the man and he laughed at their states before he left. It was actually a lot better than what some other villages experienced. Some other villages were being forced to give their daughters and wives away. Others all of their food supplies which led to mass starvation. Sometimes it was even the temple priests who were corrupt and ordered such things to happen, though if they were caught the High Priests showed them no mercy.

That was why some people resorted to thievery, not because they wanted to but because they had to do so in order to survive.

Eshe considered herself lucky that nothing of that sort occurred at her village and that no one had to resort to such a thing.

So when she had told this story to Atem, he was enraged and horrified that these type of things could occur. So while he could not forgive thievery as a whole, he could understand now if people stole to survive.

It was after that, Atem's sense of justice grew and his sense of hatred towards corrupt nobles and cheaters who used others to further their own gained increased. He also ended up becoming more open minded after that incident.

The two friends also bonded even more over that incident.

…

Atem slammed his fist beside the Sennet board and it rattled the pieces on it, but Eshe paid that no mind.

"Why are there people like that in this world…" He murmured.

Eshe touched his shoulder and Atem breathed as he calmed down. "At least he got humiliated afterwards." She joked to lighten the mood.

Atem laughed weakly, "That he did."

There was a comfortable silence around the two as they continued their game before Eshe spoke again.

"You know, compared to a year ago, I think you and Mana have become much closer than before." She mused happily.

"Closer?" Atem blinked just as he was about to move his piece.

Eshe nodded, "Yeah, a year ago the two of you were fighting really badly. It was so hard for the two of you to get along. And look at you guys now, conspiring how to prank other people."

Eshe faked a 'shame on you' expression just as Atem snorted, "We were not that bad."

She raised a brow at him, "How were you not bad! No matter how many times I saw you guys you kept on fighting."

Atem looked at her with deadpan eyes before he sighed, "You can be so perceptive of some things and so dense about others."

Eshe's brows furrowed, "Huh?"

"Nothing." Atem picked up his piece and smirked, "And I won again."

Eshe blinked before she snapped her head down to look at the board before she groaned as she palmed her head. "Not again…"

Atem chuckled before he looked out of the window, "I think it's time we pack up. Its almost time for our perspective lessons."

Eshe looked outside before she nodded and cleaned the Sennet board and placed it on her desk. She grabbed her books for her next lesson and rushed out the door to where Atem was waiting.

"I'll see you later for a rematch?" Atem suggested.

Eshe nodded determinedly, "Yup! I'll definitely beat you next time."

"You wish." He shot back and both walked to the opposite directions for their own perspective lessons.

* * *

 **And Done! This chapter is pretty filler but it helps mention some things**

 **For one, you have noticed that I mentioned that Eshe has started to have problems in summoning, this is on purpose. I am not going to make things smooth sailing for my character.**

 **Two, Mahaad and Mana! Their have been references to them in this chapter and I will someday make an Omake as to how Atem and Eshe met Mana and Eshe's first thoughts on Mahad.**

 **Also, noticed that I mentioned another character in this chapter? I'm pretty sure you realized who that is and there will be some significance to his appearance and what has changed since Eshe is here now.**

 **Also, they are growing up my cute characters are growing up so soon and their speech patterns have changed. Atem has begun with his smirks but as a kid that only looks cute rather than cool XD**

 **Also, Eshe is still very soft spoken and shy, she will only open up and be mischievous with her friends but with outsiders? Probably not. She'll go back into her shell quickly. She is not going to grow up emotionally that quickly. She is also very stubborn when it comes to games, she's pretty sore of the fact that she has never beaten Atem at all, so that is a cute point.**

 **It might seem that they are too mature, but remember. In the anime, Atem was Pharaoh and ruling the country when he was sixteen. By then he was essentially and adult managing a country with many people depending on him. Hell, he led a freaking army, if that does not scream maturity then I don't know what does.**

 **So I think it is reasonable that when they are six years old that they are somewhat more mature than normal kids. However, emotionally speaking, they are still unable to control their emotions fully and are very much like children.**

 **So, maybe another time skip in the next chapter? I'm not sure about that yet but I guess we'll know soon enough.**

 **See you next time! and review please! I like to hear your thoughts :)**


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